Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Boston Area Gleaners is honored to be able to join this movement to address issues as varied as health and nutrition, hunger, agricultural policy, animal welfare, and farm worker justice. We had our first Food Day event on Oct 22nd, Monday morning, with the help from girls from the Binah School, to glean kale in Lincoln. 190 pounds out of 340 pounds of the kale gleaned were used by the Boston Public Health Commission in its Food Day 2012 event on Oct 24th. Organized by ABCD Headstart, the kale were on the menu for the Food Day. A portion of the greens were offered to families to take home as well. The Food Day 2012 event by ABCD Headstart turned out to be a great success! The Metro has published a great feature on the event. Let's encourage Boston to Eat our Greens more and more!Thank you for joining us on this campaign! Find out more: Boston, Take a Break from Beans, It's TIme to Eat Your Greens (Metro Boston)
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A Strawberry Success! Thank you to all who attended our Strawberry Fete Fundraiser last Thursday night at Gore Place in Waltham. We had almost 50 attendees and raised over $1,300. We enjoyed glorious weather, a beautiful tour of the gardens, delicious strawberry shortcake, and wonderful music. What more could you want from an early summer evening? Thank you again to Dick's Market Garden for the perfect strawberries, Gore Place for the venue and the Shenanigans for the music. In the video below, BAG founder Oakes Plimpton discusses how BAG got its roots. Check out our Facebook page for more pictures of our Strawberry Fete event!
Thank you again to Artist Candice Oyer for your lovely artwork inspired by our work. Below is a photo of her inspiration for the art, as well as photos of four of her pieces. Board Member and volunteer gleaner Candice Oyer has created a series of beautiful BAG inspired art entitled 'Woven Heroes'. Interlacing the problem and the solution, Candice's creations feature digitally modified images of gleaners woven together to create striking modern images. Woven Heroes will be on display at the First Parish Church in Arlington throughout April, with an opening reception with the artist on Sunday April 15th, 11:30-12:45. Candice continues to create more art featuring the Boston Area Gleaners, and has pledged 20% of her profits in support of BAG. Thank you Candice! On Tuesday April 3rd Duck and I visited the State House for the 2012 Ag Day! We were able to talk to many people: farmers, those within the USDA and Dept. of Ag and possible volunteers about the program.I spoke to farmers in and out of our gleaning territory, and hopefully was able to get a few contacts for us this next season. Additionally many people were interested in establishing their own gleaning network, or connecting with an established one, so even if you are out of our territory, stay tuned for info from the newly established Mass Gleaning Network! Others visitors involved groups looking for volunteering opportunities and many many high school Ag School students. One group told me about how they were learning about animal husbandry, from taking Environmental Science their freshman year up to Veterinary Science, Mammals, Reptiles and Birds their junior and senior years. I also met a writer for the Edible Boston Magazine, and saw Sandy Hooper, our amazing filmmaker who made our BAG video last season. Have you seen it? It makes me want to get out and glean right now! Unfortunately I had to leave early and couldn't meet with the Representatives attending the event, but it was a fun few hours for me, learning about other organizations and educating people of all ages and backgrounds on the work that BAG does. Natalie BAG's Annual Meeting was on April 1st this year, and it was my first Annual Meeting with the organization! My friend, who was visiting from home, and I trekked out to Waltham to the Field Station to see the event, and we had a great time. Five new Board Members were elected to the Board of Directors, and members were able to vote on various parts of the bylaws, led by interim President Myriel Eykamp. After the official business was over we heard from Duck about the success of the 2011 season. BAG harvested almost 44,000lbs. of fresh local produce this year, for a total of approximately 250,000 servings of fruits and veggies. All of this went to our partner organizations, the largest of which is Food for Free. Next year we plan to increase this number by 20%, and if possible keep costs for harvesting and transportation to under $1 per pound. Agricultural Commissioner Scott Soares was our featured speaker, and he spoke about many of the exciting projects going on around Massachusetts. One fact I found especially interesting was that Mass is ranked #7 for most farmer's markets in the nation, and this is completing with much larger and more populated states! The EBT/SNAP program has also expanded significantly in the last few years, and I believe Commissioner Soares said that 90 markets now accept EBT/SNAP, significantly expanding access to healthy food. The Mass Gleaning Network is also underway, led by Rose Arruda from the Dept. of Ag. BAG has been involved with this venture from the start and is excited to mentor and join with other gleaning operations statewide, and Commissioner Soares spoke about his high hopes for the program. After the speakers and a Q&A with Commissioner Soares, everyone was able to mingle and look at photos from years past, as well as enjoy the delicious goodies that Gleaners had brought to share. Overall it was a great meeting, I was able to catch up with people I hadn't seen since the season ended, and meet some other Gleaners I hope to see in the field this summer! Natalie “Your Backyard: A Sustainable Feast”
- Learn how to grow your own foods, find it, cook it, preserve it and SHARE IT!- Learn about the things YOU WANT in your food - and some of the things you don’t! Dear Members and Friends,
The Boston Area Gleaners will hold its Annual Meeting on Sunday April 1, from 1-4 at the UMass Field Station (our office building). We will be electing new board members, among other business. In addition, we are honored to have the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture, Scott Soares, as our guest speaker. The Schedule of Events: 1:00 President's Welcome 1:10 General Business 2:00 Election of Board of Directors 2:10 Refreshments 2:20 Speaker: Commissioner Soares After the speaker, you are welcome to stay to socialize and watch a slideshow of gleaning pictures from last season. For directions to the Field Station: click here. We look forward to seeing you there! Duck Caldwell Executive Director BAG hosted a Winter Party yesterday, Saturday January 28, at founder Oakes Plimpton's house in Arlington, MA. The party was potluck style, and a celebration of a phenomenal season of gleaning. A casual affair, BAG hosted the party to thank its volunteers and partners for their help throughout the season. In one room, a slideshow played with photos from the season's gleanings. In the other, volunteers chatted around the food. As the party went on, more and more volunteers arrived carrying new and interesting foods, which of course, were quickly consumed by the room of foodies. Ranging from pumpkin bread to home made dumplings, I was literally chomping away the entire afternoon.
Duck thanks Volunteer of the Season Todd Kaplan for his wonderful work this season. Towards the end of the party, Duck gave a short speech, sharing the impressive stats from this season's gleanings. She thanked the volunteers for their hard work because BAG could not have had such a great season without their support. BAG was also glad to see some of its partners such as Medford Food Pantry attend. While winter gives some down time as gleaners, BAG is glad to get a chance to reflect on the season and thank its volunteers and partners for their support! -- Chris, BAG Intern |
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